Fugitive cop believed killed in fire after shootout

A BODY has been found inside the burnt-out cabin in California where police had tracked Christopher Jordan Dorner, the fugitive accused of three murders and threatening to kill police officers.

A fourth person, a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, died of his wounds after he and another deputy were hit in an exchange of gunfire outside the cabin in which hundreds of rounds were fired, sources said.

Dorner kept his pursuers at bay before officers fired tear-gas into the structure, a source said. Positive identification of the body, which was found in the charred rubble of the mountainside cabin, could take days, the source said.

A law enforcement source said police had broken windows, fired tear-gas into the cabin and blasted over a loudspeaker urging Dorner to surrender earlier on Tuesday. When they got no response, police used a vehicle to rip down the walls of the cabin ''one by one, like peeling an onion'', a law enforcement official said.

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By the time they got to the last wall, authorities heard a single shot, the source said. Then flames began to spread through the structure, and more shots, probably set off by the fire, were heard.

Hundreds of law enforcement personnel had swooped on the site near Big Bear after the gun battles between Dorner and officers that broke out in the snow-covered mountains where he had been eluding a manhunt since his truck was found burning in the area last week.

Law enforcement personnel in military-style gear and armed with high-powered weapons took up positions in the heavily forested area as the tense standoff progressed.

The afternoon gun battle broke out after Dorner allegedly broke into a home, tied up a couple and held them hostage. He then stole a pick-up truck, sources said.

Dorner was allegedly spotted by a state wildlife officer in the truck, sources said.

They exchanged fire from their vehicles and the officer's was peppered with multiple rounds, authorities said. Dorner crashed his truck and took refuge in the nearby cabin, sources said. One deputy was hit as Dorner fired out of the cabin and a second when Dorner left through the rear of the cabin, deployed a smoke bomb and opened fire again in an apparent attempt to flee. Dorner was driven back inside the cabin, the sources said.

During the unprecedented manhunt, officers had criss-crossed California for days pursuing more than 1000 tips that poured in about Dorner's possible whereabouts, and serving warrants at homes in Las Vegas and the Point Loma area of San Diego.

The search turned to Big Bear last week after Dorner's burning truck was found on a local forest road.

At the search's height, more than 200 officers scoured the mountain, conducting cabin-by-cabin checks. It was scaled back on Sunday - about 30 officers were out in the field on Tuesday, the San Bernardino County sheriff's department said.

Dorner had allegedly threatened ''unconventional and asymmetrical warfare'' against police in a lengthy manifesto that authorities say he posted on Facebook. The posting named dozens of potential targets, including police officers, whom Dorner allegedly threatened to attack.

The manifesto was discovered last Wednesday, three days after the slaying of an Irvine couple, Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence.

Ms Quan was the daughter of a retired Los Angeles Police Department captain whom Dorner allegedly blamed in part for his firing from the force in 2009.